New Year’s Blogging Resolutions

In light of the new year being a motivating time to improve something I have decided to set some blogging goals for myself.

As a stay-at-home-mom who blogs on the side this is always a challenging feat in respect to not neglecting my family, housework, etc.

Having children that wake up early and don’t always nap really limits my “me time” every day. I blogged about how to make the most of your blogging time in a previous post. I plan to continue with these steps and improve my efficiency whenever I can. This might mean waking up earlier than my children (who often wake at 6am) if that’s what it is going to take. I have to remember also to stay organized in my blogging, which is something I have shared before as well.

So, what are my blogging resolutions, or goals for 2014?

Improve my stats. To be taken seriously in blogging you often have to have a repertoire of stats (unique monthly visitors, google page rank, etc.) that are impressive enough to garner attention from whomever you are trying to work with. Improving these stats will more than likely take increasing the traffic to your blog, which I have previously discussed as well.

I also am trying to take advantage of every free opportunity to join in on giveaways ran by other blogs. I host reviews and giveaways on my site on a regular basis and there is a lot of work that goes into the back end of that. See what I mean here. When I started paying attention to all of these other opportunities, that would take little time and no (or little, if you choose) money, that would increase my stats, I dove in head first. Search for different groups on facebook that are for bloggers and you will come across some of these opportunities (where some minimum follower stats are usually required) or check out my blog for a few I have shared. The host will send you the html code needed in your post so it is usually a matter of copying/pasting that and promoting it on your social media outlets. These events will gain you more followers on your social media outlets and more traffic to your site.

Utilize Pinterest more. I have found that Pinterest in one of the leading referrers to my blog now so it only makes sense to capitalize on that. With Pinterest, an image is what really grabs a pinners attention. I shared how pictures can really improve your posts and how I make Pinterest-friendly images previously and I will continue practice these tips.

I am going to set a goal of pinning x-amount of my blog posts (current and past) every day to maximize the amount of traffic Pinterest can drive to my blog. It’s always important to make sure you choose the best image and text to really grab the attention of your Pinterest followers.

Share and Be Shared. I belong to some facebook blogger groups that promote sharing opportunities among us bloggers in an organized, daily fashion. I haven’t regularly taken advantage of this, for no particular reason, so I am making it a goal to participate in these exchanges on a regular basis. Basically, you share a post or social media link, etc. that you would like shared and, in exchange, you share what another blogger requests. Everybody wins.

I also plan on sharing more posts from some of my favorite blogs, randomly. One of my favorite bloggers, Crystal Paine, from Money Saving Mom speaks often about being generous in sharing and promoting others, just because. Crystal has created an amazing blogging/media platform so I always listen whenever she speaks.

Comment More. I read a lot of blogs but don’t always take the time to comment on the posts. Commenting is a great way to interact with other bloggers and you are also providing an opportunity for fans of that blog to come check out your site as well. Most blog comment sections will provide you an opportunity to link your website in your name that you comment with. You shouldn’t take advantage and comment with something like “My blog is awesome, come read it.” Instead, comment with something relative to the post, in a well-spoken manner and show your personality as well. You don’t want to tell people to come to your blog, you want them to want to come read your blog.

Comment often and you will make some new blogger friends and the opportunities for networking with them. If nothing else, this is a great way to support other bloggers who might not get a lot of comments on their blog regularly.

What are your blogging resolutions or goals for 2014?

About

Stephanie is the occasional blogger behind Housewife Mama but spends most of her "work" time running her eBay store. She is a SAHM to Adah and Abigail (and a baby boy on the way) and wife to Michael. She grew up in Massachusetts, met her husband in college in Kentucky and now resides in North Carolina.

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I’ve been thinking about a lot of different goals over my Christmas break from work; sad to say, I haven’t written anything down yet. I do plan to start journaling more this year, so the goals I’ve been formulating are going to get written down there (and hopefully transferred to the blog!)